Tag: Hiroshi Inaba

Wakayama Higashi Police Department arrested Hiroshi Inaba for stealing a bunch of Peko chan dolls from Fujiya Arimoto in Wakayama on September 1st. The dolls are 43.3 inches tall and weigh in at 24.2 lbs apiece.

Inaba came into the shop with another man, and took the dolls and drove away. But a clerk remembered his car’s license number, so Inaba was easily arrested.

The police department found eight Peko chan dolls that Inaba seems to have stole and was selling for 200,000 Yen each in an antique shop in Osaka.

Peko chan has been the symbolic character of Fujiya Sweets Company for more than 50 years and has always seemed familiar to Japanese people. There are about 650 Peko chan dolls in Fujiya shops all over the country. Five of them in Wakayama, three of them in Osaka, and two of them in Hyogo were stolen from January to February this year alone. (It is odd that Peko chan dolls are such valuable things. Who is going to buy them…Who do you think?)

If you are interested in Peko chan, there is an exhibition in Fujiya Ginza building from August 24th to September 6th. You will know more than just the history about Peko chan. Admission is free.